Air pollution is a problem faced by nations all over the world. The particulate matter level in several nations is near hazardous levels.
Factories and Industries continue to be some of the greatest contributors towards air pollution. Industrial pollution has adversely affected the biodiversity damaging the ecosystem.
There are two basic measures factories can take:
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Pollution prevention
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Pollution control.
Pollution prevention includes changing the factory?s means of operations so that it creates little or none of that particular pollutant.
or example, a mercury plating factory can prevent mercury pollution by switching to a different plating process that uses an element other than mercury. That process will use other metals, the ones that are less toxic to human health as well as environment.
Factories that switch to natural gas fuel from heavily polluting fuels like coal can drastically reduce emissions of particulate, greenhouse gas, and other contaminants including mercury and sulphur.
Use of more efficient cleaner technologies is also a growing trend for cleaner production, and at the same time minimizing emission and waste at their source rather than to treat them at the end of the production chain after they are generated.
The second major option is pollution control.
This generally involves equipment being installed, usually at the end of pipe to capture pollutants before they are released into air or water. Baghouse, is one example, where dust in the air is filtered before being released to the outdoors. The filters catch most of the dust, which can then be reused, recycled or disposed.
It has been estimated that about 40 million tonnes of fly ash is generated per annum from thermal power plants and contribute to particulate matter loading to environment. Fly ash possesses active and finely divided silica, alumina and calcium oxide, which provide it with cement like qualities. The fly ash emitted by thermal power plants can be used for manufacturing bricks and cement production.
Now what can we do,
If you live near a rogue factory, document problems with photos and send emails to factory authorities. Keep any response you get, and contact your local authorities to see what can be done. In the meantime, find out what laws are in effect, whether they're being complied with, and how they can be strengthened.
Image: PUBLIC DOMAIN
7 Comments
I agree to the statement the factories are a major contributors of pollution.With advancement in technology we do have devices that control and limit the amount of noxious gases in the atmosphere but they are yet to be made more efficient..Thanks for sharing Humaid!
Posted 30-03-2016 01:26
Indeed @Arushi @Rahul @Joshua
Thanks for your suggestion @Minjoo @Heonjun
Posted 30-03-2016 00:19
Humaid, as you have mentioned, prevention and control are two methods for solving environmental problem. One thing I would like to add is, these methods can only turn into reality when the cost of violating regulations is bigger than continuing its production, because changing the way of operation is significantly costly to most factories. Also, the government can not only control but can also use ways such as providing subsidies when the company has decided to use a greener method for production. Thanks for posting, and have a great day :-)
Posted 29-03-2016 02:02
Prevention should be the first - Like the saying 'Prevention is better than cure'. Cost of pollution clean up can be really huge and evitable by most factories. The best is to prevent but since zero pollution is quiet difficult to achieve in these sectors, we should advocate that they control their pollution to the best of knowledge
Posted 28-03-2016 20:41
When we say control pollution it sounds amusing. But looking at facts and datas reveal how much destruction we have done. Control and prevention are equally important.thanks
for highlighting issuse
Posted 28-03-2016 14:40
Rightly emphasised -factories contribute a lot to air pollution. Complying to emission norms must be a part of the criteria before giving industrial license to factories by government. We as residents , too, should complain if notice factories with heavy emission-as you pointed out. Equipment like electrostatic precipitator can be installed in factories to curb the emission of harmful pollutants. Thanks for the report.
Posted 28-03-2016 13:08
Hi Humaid! Joint efforts to reduce the emission can only be realized when the market price and trade are stabled. Though European carbon trade floundered in the past, it really has to get back on track and succeed as it is the benchmarking model to other countries to form a trade market of their own. Thanks Humaid for bringing our attention on this. take care!
Posted 28-03-2016 11:34